Method and system for hosting centralized online point-of-sale activities for a plurality of distributed customers and vendors

ABSTRACT

One or more networked computers ( 18 ) receives input from a customer ( 12 ) specifying two or more vendors having vendor web sites ( 14 ) from which to purchase goods or services during an online shopping session, receives input from the two or more vendors indicating that the customer has purchased goods or services at the two or more vendor web sites during the online shopping session, and outputs a single online receipt ( 32 ) to the customer reflecting all goods or services purchased at the two or more vendor web sites during the online shopping session. Sales tax may be collected from the customer for goods or services purchased during the online shopping session and electronically disbursed tax to one or more tax authorities. Payment for the goods or services purchased during the online shopping session may be electronically collected and disbursed to vendors. Credits for one or more purchased goods or services may also be disbursed. Reports may be generated based on a plurality of data collected during POS transactions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication Serial No. 60/363,437filed Mar. 12, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce,and more specifically to a novel method and system for hostingcentralized online point-of-sale (“POS”) activities for a plurality ofdistributed customers and vendors.

[0004] 2. Background Art

[0005]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the operation and architecture ofconventional Internet commerce. Via the Internet 10, a plurality ofonline customers 12 a-12 e access or otherwise browse a plurality ofvendor web sites 14 a-14 d. Notably, online customers 12 a-12 e mayaccess or otherwise browse distributed vendor sites utilizing a varietyof devices/utilities having operable electronic or wireless connectivityto the Internet 10. Devices/utilities include but are not limited to apersonal computer 12 a, Microsoft X-Box 12 b, a personal data assistant12 c, conventional telephone 12 d or wireless telephone 12 e.Alternately, customers 12 d and 12 e can contact vendor sites directly,as represented by arrows 7 and 9, respectively.

[0006] The operation and architecture of conventional Internet commercesuffers from at least three general drawbacks. First, customers who wishto purchase goods or services from multiple vendor sites during anonline shopping session must make multiple purchase transactions. Forexample, a customer who purchases three goods from three differentvendors has to input his or her shipping address, billing address,credit card number, e-mail address, etc. three separate times. Besidessimply being frustrating and time consuming, this redundant data entryis prone to errors.

[0007] Another general drawback associated with the operation andarchitecture of conventional Internet commerce is the fact that eachpurchase transaction results in a separate vendor receipt 16 a-16 d thatthe customer must account for and maintain. Due to varyingpost-transaction practices at the vendor sites, the receipts aree-mailed back to the customer at varying times after the actual time ofpurchase, only complicating customer accounting and maintenance. Thismulti-receipt problem also increases the chances that one of the severalreceipts will be lost—by the customer, the vendor, or otherwise.

[0008] Yet another general drawback associated with the operation andarchitecture of conventional Internet commerce is the lack ofcentralized tax collection and disbursement. Today, each tax-collectingvendor must independently collect taxes from each of its customers, anddisburse those taxes to the appropriate tax collection agencies.

[0009] Because each Internet vendor is currently responsible forindependently hosting their respective point-of-sale activities (e.g.customer account maintenance, payment processing, receipts, returns, taxcollection/disbursement, etc.) an inherent inefficiency exists. Despitethe welcome diversity among the broad spectrum of specialized productsand services that each individual vendor offers, they must eachredundantly staff, host, execute and support the same basic point ofsale activities.

[0010] What is needed is a method and system for hosting centralizedonline point of sale activities for a plurality of distributed customersand vendors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Preferred embodiments of the present invention illustrated anddescribed herein include an online method and system for hostingcentralized point of sale activities for a plurality of distributedcustomers and vendors. More specifically, these and other embodiments ofthe present invention include a novel and efficient means for providingcustomers with a single receipt for an online sales session, independentof the number of different online vendors from which goods or servicesare purchased.

[0012] In addition, embodiments of the present invention facilitatecentral sales tax collection and disbursement, eliminating the need forthe distributed vendor sites to provide costly and timely investments inredundant taxation services that are not related to the quality of thegoods or services that vendors offer. Put another way, online vendorsutilizing features of the present invention do not have to make the timeand capital investment necessary to host tax collection and disbursementactivities, many of which are or will soon be required by law.

[0013] Another advantageous feature of the present invention allows acustomer to input payment information only once during an onlineshopping session, independent of the number of different online vendorsfrom which goods or services are purchased. This feature simply reducesthe redundancy, time and aggravation many customers experience duringtheir online shopping sessions.

[0014] Another advantageous feature of the present invention supportsthe processing of customer returns and processing in a centralizedfashion similar to the centralized sale processing aspects of thepresent invention.

[0015] Preferred embodiments of the present invention include a methodand system for centrally hosting online point of sale activities. Asystem comprising one or more networked computers is operably programmedand configured to receive input from a customer specifying two or morevendors having vendor web sites from which to purchase goods or servicesduring an online shopping session, receive input from the two or morevendors indicating that the customer has purchased goods or services atthe two or more vendor web sites during the online shopping session, andoutput a single online receipt to the customer reflecting all goods orservices purchased at the two or more vendor web sites during the onlineshopping session.

[0016] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to collect sales tax from the customer forgoods or services purchased during the online shopping session andelectronically disburse the collected sales tax to one or more taxauthorities.

[0017] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to collect and electronically disburse paymentfor the goods or services purchased during the online shopping session.Payment may be electronically disbursed to the two or more vendor websites. Payment may be electronically disbursed to vendor bankinginstitutions, and include a transactional fee for hosting thepoint-of-sale activities.

[0018] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to disburse a credit for one or more purchasedgoods or services.

[0019] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to electronically obtain payment authorizationfrom the customer's credit card company for goods or services to bepurchased at the two or more vendor sites.

[0020] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the customers or vendors may be located in differentcountries.

[0021] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to present the customer with an online tableof contents including a plurality of hyperlinks to different vendor websites.

[0022] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the one or more networked computers may additionally beprogrammed and configured to generate one or more reports based on aplurality of data collected during the transaction of the point-of-saleactivities.

[0023] According to another aspect or embodiment of the presentinvention, the vendor web sites may include one or more online auctionsites.

[0024] Still further features, objects and advantages of the inventionwill become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which theinvention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the operation and architecture ofconventional Internet commerce;

[0026]FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an overview of a preferredimplementation of the present invention;

[0027]FIG. 3 schematically illustrates how a customer accesses the ASPto begin an online shopping session in accordance with a preferredimplementation of the present invention; and

[0028]FIGS. 4 through 7 schematically illustrate a detailed manner inwhich POS activities associated with an online shopping session may behosted at ASP in accordance with preferred implementations of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0029] Embodiments of the present invention include a method and systemfor hosting centralized online point of sale activities for a pluralityof distributed customers and vendors. FIG. 2 schematically illustrates apreferred implementation of the present invention. Those in the art willrecognize, however, that the content or arrangement of all figuresillustrating aspects of the present invention may be modified orsupplemented within the scope of the present invention to best-fit aparticular implementation scenario.

[0030] In accordance with the preferred implementation illustrated inFIG. 2, application service provider (“ASP”) 18 centrally hosts avariety of online point-of-sale (“POS”) activities between a pluralityof customers 12 a-12 e and a plurality of vendor web sites 14 a-14 d.Notably, vendors 14 may include conventional online vendors of goods andservices as well as online auction web sites (e.g. E-Bay, Yahoo, Amazon,etc.).

[0031] Online POS activities hosted by ASP 18 include but are notlimited to (i) payment processing for goods and/or services rendered tocustomers 12 a-12 e, (ii) tax collection and disbursement betweencustomers 12 a-12 e and tax authorities 22, respectively, (iii) issuanceof receipts 18 a, 18 b to customers 12 a-12 e, (iv) issuance of paymentto vendors 14 a-14 d or credit card companies 19 for goods and/orservices sold, and (v) processing of customer returns and refund/creditprocessing.

[0032] Notably, ASP 18 centralizes online POS activities betweencustomers 12, credit card companies 19, and tax collecting authorities22 such that a customer purchasing multiple goods or services frommultiple vendor sites 14 a-14 d during an online shopping sessionundergoes a single online payment/taxation transaction and receives asingle consolidated online sales/credit receipt 18 a/ 18 b therefor,independent of the number of purchases or vendors involved.

[0033] In a preferred embodiment, ASP 18 includes one or more networkedserver computers in operable communication with web browsers operatingon customer client computers 12 a-12 e, and vendor server computershosting vendor sites 14 a-14 d. Additionally, ASP 18 server computersmay be in operable communication with payment institutions 19 (e.g.,banks, credit card companies, etc.) and tax authorities 22.

[0034]FIG. 3 schematically illustrates customer 12 accesses to ASP 18 tobegin an online shopping session in accordance with a preferredimplementation of the present invention. More specifically, customers 12are validated or registered upon login, as represented by arrow 13.Customer master file database 20 maintains customer demographicinformation. Customer location I.D. database 22 maintains taxjurisdiction/authority information for each customer. Upon customervalidation, ASP 18 enables customer access to vendor sites 14, asrepresented by arrow 15.

[0035]FIGS. 4 through 7 schematically illustrate the manner in which POSactivities associated with an online shopping session may be hosted atASP 18 in accordance with preferred implementations of the presentinvention. Referring now to FIG. 4, a customer obtains or otherwiseselects a vendor site via ASP 18, as represented by arrow 17. Next, thecustomer browses to the selected online vendor site 14, as representedby arrow 19. Upon selecting one or more items for purchase from thevendor 14, the vendor submits a payment request to customer 12 via ASP18, as represented by arrow 24. This activity alerts ASP 18 thatcustomer payment information (e.g. credit card information) will beforthcoming, enabling ASP 18 to intercept the payment information as itpasses from the customer 12 to the vendor 14 in response to the vendor'srequest.

[0036]FIG. 5 illustrates an interception at ASP 18 of the customerspayment information, represented by arrow 26. Upon interception, twopreferred scenarios are provided. In scenario “A”, vendor 14 is notifiedthat the ASP 18 has intercepted the customer's 12 payment information26. According to this scenario, ASP 18 awaits a purchase receipt 25 fromvendor 14. When the receipt 25 is obtained, ASP 18 adds an appropriatesales tax and transactional fee, and executes the payment and taxationtransaction with the appropriate authorities 19 and 23, respectively. Inother words, ASP 18 collects payment information from the customer 12and automatically/electronically disburses payment to the appropriatevendor(s) and tax authorities.

[0037] In scenario “B”, ASP 18 forwards the payment information throughto the vendor 14 for vendor-managed purchase approval and disbursement.ASP 18 awaits a purchase receipt 25 from vendor 14. When the receipt 25is obtained, ASP 18 adds a transactional fee and the appropriate salestax (i.e. by jurisdiction), and executes a payment transaction on theseamounts only. In this scenario, however, only the tax authority and theASP itself are thereafter credited (the vendor has already executed acustomer payment transaction for goods sold).

[0038] Preferably, transactional charges and sales tax are added on aper-line-item basis. Next, the ASP 18 writes all line items andcorresponding tax and transaction charges to a sales transaction file 28and sales tax file 30 for the customer's current online shoppingsession. Notably, receipt 25 is not forwarded to customer 12 at thistime.

[0039]FIG. 6 schematically illustrates certain POS activities followingthe completion of the customer's first purchase transaction (see FIGS. 4and 5). Upon completion of the first transaction, ASP 18 sends a messageto or otherwise communicates with customer 12 to inquire whethercustomer 12 is finished shopping, as represented by arrow 21. If thecustomer is not finished shopping, the processes illustrated anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5 are generally repeated. Forsubsequent purchases, ASP 18 automatically consolidates the originalvendor receipt 25 and any subsequent vendor receipts into a consolidatedreceipt 32 in a fashion that is transparent to the customer. However, a“current total” or “current receipt” may be displayed to the customerthroughout the current online shopping session.

[0040] Preferably, customer payment information is maintained at ASP 18throughout the online shopping session such that a customer need onlysubmit his or her payment information once.

[0041] If customer 12 indicates that he or she is finished shopping, theconsolidated receipt 32 is forwarded to the customer and the currentonline shopping session is terminated. Preferably, the consolidatedreceipt includes all line item sales from all vendors along with thecorresponding taxes and transactional charge(s).

[0042] Notably, web-based POS sales activities such as those illustratedand described above may be configured and implemented to supportcross-jurisdictional (e.g. inter-state, multinational, etc.) collectionand disbursement of payment for goods purchased and corresponding salestaxes (e.g., United States sales taxes, Canadian value added taxes(VAT), etc.).

[0043]FIG. 7 schematically illustrates customer navigation through ASP18 (e.g. FIGS. 2 and 4) to a vendor 14 in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention. Preferably, ASP 18 (not shown)provides a registered customer (not shown) with an online table ofcontents 34 containing hyperlinks to a plurality of online vendors 14.In one embodiment of the present invention, the customer browses theonline table of contents (e.g. 34 a, 34 b, 34 c) and selects aparticular vendor of interest, as represented by arrow 36. Selection ofthe vendor of interest, as represented by arrow 38, directs thecustomer's browser to vendor website 14, as represented by arrow 38. Inan alternate embodiment, the customer inputs his or her own URLdirecting the customer's browser to a particular vendor site, asrepresented by arrow 40.

[0044] Another aspect of the present invention supports customerreturn/refund processing. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention customer return/refund processing is managed via ASP 18 in afashion similar to sale processing discussed and illustrated withrespect to FIGS. 2 through 7. More specifically, payment information isultimately intercepted at ASP 18 and forwarded to payment institutions19 and/or tax institutions 22 for issuance of a credit to customer 12. Afinal vendor receipt 25 reflecting the return/refund is issued to ASP 18and customer 12 detailing the line items being returned along with theproper credit amounts for the actual purchase and for the various salestaxes levied enumerated on it. If a return/refund is being requestedfrom multiple vendors 14, a consolidated receipt 25 reflecting thereturn/refund is generated and forwarded to the customer 12.

[0045] Another aspect of the present invention supports customerreturn/refund processing. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention customer return/refund processing.

[0046] Another aspect of the present invention supports reportgeneration. According to one embodiment of the present invention, ASP 18is programmed and configured to collect and store a plurality ofinformation as customer and vendor POS activities such as thosedescribed herein are transacted. Preferably, certain data collected isassociated with a country, state/province, county, township/borough, andcity. This aspect of the present invention enables queries andcorresponding reports to target geographical criteria at various levelsof granularity. Of course, multiple levels of granularity may beimplemented across a wide variety of other collected data including agegroup, market, etc. This aspect of the present invention additionallyenables relative comparisons and analyses (e.g. trend analyses,point-in-time analyses, etc.).

[0047] Table 1 below includes a variety of example reports generated byASP 18. Of course, other reports may be generated within the scope ofthe present invention. TABLE 1 Report Category Report Description Totalor Individual Item-description and/or item inventory number SalesAnalysis Vendor Sales tax jurisdiction-country, state/province, county,township/borough, city Sales class-description and/or classnumber/designation Sales/vendor location End customer Time period-day,week, month, quarter, year, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month,quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year Payment methods-charge card companybreakdown by usage, geographical location, income median, zip code, agegroup etc. Auction sales locations. Purchase orders issued for itemreturn/credits Pseudo Inventory Inventory turnover by vendor. ReportsInventory turnover by sales location. Inventory turnover by/for the endcustomer. Inventory turnover by sales location. Inventory turnover bygeographical location. Inventory to sales “turnover” ratio by vendorsales location(s). Inventory to sales “turnover” ratio by vendorinventory location. Inventory to sales “turnover” ratio by vendorproduction location. Inventory values-LIFO or FIFO Inventory values at3^(rd) party sales locations or auction locations. Inventory returned bypurchase order issued Item return/defect analysis Return Sales ItemsTotal returns/credits by sales item. Reports Total returns/credits byvendor. Total returns/credits by sales tax jurisdiction- country,state/province, county, township/borough, city. Total returns/credits bysales/vendor location total returns/credits by end customer Totalreturns/credits by payment method (i.e.-by charge card company and/orbank) Total returns/credits by time period-day, week, month, quarter,year, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter,year-to-year. Total purchase orders issued for returns Returned SalesItems Returned sales by 3^(rd) party sales vendor/auction Reports (withAuction location. Locations) Returned sales/auction items byitem-description. Returned sales/auction items by sales taxjurisdiction-country, state/province, county, township/borough, city.Returned sales/auction items by end customer. Returned sales/auctionitems by time period-day, week, month, quarter, year, day-to-day,week-to- week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, year- to-year. Valueof returned sales to 3^(rd) party auction locations by price. Sales TaxCollected Sales taxes collected by sales tax jurisdiction such Reportsas country, state/province, county, township/borough, city. Sales taxespaid by sales tax jurisdiction such as country, state/province, county,township/borough, city. Sales taxes collected by time period-day, week,month, quarter, year, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month,quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year. Sales taxes paid by time period-day,week, month, quarter, year, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month,quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year. Sales taxes collected by end customer.Sales taxes collected by vendor. Sales taxes collected by item salesclass. Sales taxes collected by vendor/sales location. Sales taxescollected by customer. Sales taxes collected by geographical location.Revenue Reports Total revenue by vendor/customer Total revenue by endcustomer. Total revenue by geographical location. Total revenue by salesclass of items. Total revenue by payment method-charge card companies.Total revenue by vendor class. Total revenue by 3^(rd) party auctionlocations. Total revenue by sales item. Total revenue by vendor/customersales location. Auction Location Auction location sales-by salesitem/vendor/sales Reports class/geographical location, payment method,etc. Auction location sales by sales item inventory value. Auctionlocation sales by inventory resale turn- over and turnover ratio.Information Resale Data analysis by race/gender. Reports Data analysisby income group. Data analysis by age group-1, 2, 3, 4 (these are thetraditional age group numeric designations in a variety of areas such asvoter registration etc.) Data analysis by geographic location. Dataanalysis by single, married, married with children etc. Data analysis bypayment method-charge card type. Data analysis by occupation (usuallycoded by an occupation code). Data analysis by country phone code,telephone area code/exchange. Data analysis by sales vendor/item/salesclass designations. Sales taxes paid by bank deposit into the respectivebank accounts by vendor, by geographical location, by sales item, bylocation code etc. Sales Taxes Paid Sales taxes paid by taxingjurisdiction-country, Reports state/province, county, township/borough,city. Sales taxes paid by vendor/customer. Sales taxes paid by salesitem. Sales taxes paid by bank account wire trans- fer and/or depositedinto. Also, sales taxes paid by check printing run. Sales taxes paid byvendor/customer sales locations. Sales taxes collected/paid byreconciliation information. Sales taxes paid by end customer. Salestaxes paid by time period-day, week, month, quarter, year, day-to-day,week-to-week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year. Salestaxes paid by auction location. Sales taxes paid/credited (for returnedsales) reconciliation reports. Misc. Reports Leasing fee reports byvendor/customer sales locations. Transaction fee reports by endcustomer/customer/payment method/dales items/ sales itemclass/geographical location etc. Total revenue report by end customer.Total revenue report by customer. Total revenue report by customer saleslocation. Total revenue report by sales item(s). Total sales report bycustomer. Total sales report by end customer. Total sales report bygeographical location. Total sales/revenue reports by sales taxlurisdiction/auction locations/item sales class/credits-returned itemsetc. Net sales tax money due and readily available for investment. Salestax anticipation payment schedules by sales taxjurisdiction/customer/customer sales locations/auction locations etc.Managed float report on all foundation commerce corporation short terminvestments using net sales tax due money balances.

[0048] While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate anddescribe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used inthe specification are words of description rather than limitation, andit is understood that various changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for centrally hosting online point ofsale activities, the method comprising: (i) receiving input from acustomer specifying two or more vendors having vendor web sites fromwhich to purchase goods or services during an online shopping session;(ii) receiving input from the two or more vendors indicating that thecustomer has purchased goods or services at the two or more vendor websites during the online shopping session; and (iii) outputting a singleonline receipt to the customer reflecting all goods or servicespurchased at the two or more vendor web sites during the online shoppingsession.
 2. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising collecting taxfrom the customer for goods or services purchased during the onlineshopping session and disbursing the collected tax to one or more taxauthorities.
 3. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising collectingand disbursing payment for the goods or services purchased during theonline shopping session.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the payment isdisbursed to the two or more vendors.
 5. The method of claim 3 whereinthe payment is electronically disbursed to a vendor banking institution.6. The method of claim 3 wherein the payment includes a transactionalfee.
 7. The method of claim 3 additionally comprising disbursing acredit for one or more purchased goods or services.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 additionally comprising electronically obtaining paymentauthorization from the customer's credit card company for goods orservices to be purchased at the two or more vendor sites.
 9. The methodof claim 1 wherein the customer or vendors are located in differentcountries.
 10. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising presentingthe customer with an online table of contents including a plurality ofhyperlinks to different vendor web sites.
 11. The method of claim 1additionally comprising generating one or more reports based on aplurality of data collected during the transaction of the point-of-saleactivities.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the vendorweb sites are online auction sites.
 13. A system for centrally hostingonline point of sale activities, the system comprising one or morenetworked computers operably programmed and configured to: (i) receiveinput from a customer specifying two or more vendors having vendor websites from which to purchase goods or services during an online shoppingsession; (ii) receive input from the two or more vendors indicating thatthe customer has purchased goods or services at the two or more vendorweb sites during the online shopping session; and (iii) output a singleonline receipt to the customer reflecting all goods or servicespurchased at the two or more vendor web sites during the online shoppingsession.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more networkedcomputers are additionally programmed and configured to collect salestax from the customer for goods or services purchased during the onlineshopping session and electronically disburse the collected sales tax toone or more tax authorities.
 15. The system of claim 13 wherein the oneor more networked computers are additionally programmed and configuredto collect and electronically disburse payment for the goods or servicespurchased during the online shopping session.
 16. The system of claim 15wherein the payment is electronically disbursed to the two or morevendors.
 17. The system of claim 15 wherein the payment iselectronically disbursed to a vendor banking institution.
 18. The systemof claim 15 wherein the payment includes a transactional fee.
 19. Thesystem of claim 15 wherein the one or more networked computers areadditionally programmed and configured disburse a credit for one or morepurchased goods or services.
 20. The system of claim 11 wherein the oneor more networked computers are additionally programmed and configuredto electronically obtain payment authorization from the customer'scredit card company for goods or services to be purchased at the two ormore vendor sites.
 21. The system of claim 11 wherein the customer orvendors are located in different countries.
 22. The system of claim 11wherein the one or more networked computers are additionally programmedand configured to present the customer with an online table of contentsincluding a plurality of hyperlinks to different vendor web sites. 23.The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more networked computers areadditionally programmed and configured to generate one or more reportsbased on a plurality of data collected during the transaction of thepoint-of-sale activities.
 24. The system of claim 13 wherein one or moreof the vendor web sites are online auction sites.